Hardware Help!

Openside · Joined: Sep 14, 2008 Posts: 2 Location: Ireland

Hey all,

First post so bare with me, cheers. This may sound stupid:

Ok where to start!I have been playing music for near 10 years but nothing electronic. My influences are Daft Punk, Chemical bros, Digitalism, Boysnoize etc. Anyway about 8 months ago i bought a good bit of equipment. I bought a Sp555 (sampler), a DR-5 (drum machine, old one) and a microkorg. I have a really good ear for music and i have loads of stuff id love to make a song out of but this is where the problem lies.

What i have been doing is sampling stuff from my microkorg onto the sp 555 and layering it......but u cant really put a song together this way (or can u????????????). I really want to make music like digitalism and stuff but i dont know how. Like how do i get everything to play and make an actual song. All i am doing atm is looping a drum beat and putting some synth stuff over it....but this really isnt going to become a good song working like that. Any ideas on how to use all this stuff together?Or maybe i dont have the right equipment?Cheers!I have been going mad with this for a while now.. Embarassed

Uncle Krunkus · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:25 am Post subject:

Have you got a PC?
I don't assume you have, as you may have posted from someone elses, but if you do, you can start right there.
You'll need:-
The PC, with an audio line in, and hopefully some half decent speakers hanging off the line out, or go straight to your hi-fi setup, (monitors later)
Some leads which will get the equipment you've already got plugged into the computer line in.
Some software,....
There are heaps of free audio applications out there on the net and music magazines. There's a sub forum here which has links to some very good stuff too.

So,....
Get that stuff together, and start learning how to put tracks together in the PC. Do plenty of research, and make sure the PC is as lean/clean/mean as you can get it. Wink

Oh,...
and don't hesitate to ask heaps of questions (the more specific the better) around here. We're very keen to help out people who are just getting started. Very Happy

Openside · Joined: Sep 14, 2008 Posts: 2 Location: Ireland

Hey man!

Thanks for the reply. Im getting a laptop this week!I do Multimedia so i know audio editing and all that stuff pritty well. I was hoping i cud just use hardware but if i need software then ill get it!

What do mean use the software for?Like as a kind of sequencer or just for recording and editing tracks? Like will i be running the software live with the hardware and if i wanted to cud i use a program like ableton or fruityloops (or any program) with my hardware?The sp555 has a USB input so that is pritty handy, i cud put the mK through that and into the laptop aswell maybe? Questions, questions Smile

. Cheers!

Openside

Uncle Krunkus · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 4:04 am Post subject:

If the sp555 has USB that would probably mean you could export/import stuff to and from that and the PC. There's possibly software out there specifically designed for editing the sp555 etc. etc.
Yeah, recording your hardware into the PC using FL, Ableton, Cubase, Cakewalk, other DAWs etc. etc.
Building drums loops using Tuareg type programs which can then be imported into the DAW so you can play live stuff along with them.
Running midi tracks into the PC soundcard to get another entire synth or 16 doing other stuff.
Using Soundforge and other types of programs to edit what you've done, or parts of it. etc. etc.
Find a free VST host and you'll also be able to run softsynths and similar stuff. There's heaps of those free out there, as well as plenty which are worth the price.
The new Cakewalk app called SONAR or CUBASE will act as DAW and host VSTs as well.
There's heaps of stuff out there to research, demo, and incorporate into your process of composing, it mainly depends on what kind of stuff you want to do.
If your mainly wanting to record your hardware in a way which will allow you to edit, mix, re-take multiple tracks of digital audio then the FL (cheap) and later SONAR, CUBASE (dearer) path is the one to investigate.